It appears some parents were complaining about the way football players were being treated and there was a question of whether Keim's behavior was negatively affecting retention in the football program, based on emails and other documents obtained by MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette through the Freedom of Information Act.

Contacted Friday, Langdon declined to offer specifics beyond what was obtained in the documents. However, he said that Keim's departure was voluntary.

"He was not forced to resign," Langdon said. "I can say that unequivocally."

Keim could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

Still, the emails make clear that in a Sept. 19 meeting, Keim was told that he should step down if he was not willing to change his behavior.

Keim submitted his resignation on Sept. 21, and announced his departure that night immediately after his team defeated Battle Creek Central.

Keim's handwritten resignation letter reads: "Due to unforeseen disagreements and what I feel is best for the team, players, parents and community, I resign my position as head football head at SHS effective immediately."

A Sept. 21 email from Langdon to the board detailed the series of events leading up to the resignation.

"(Athletic director) Mark Adams and I have been expressing our concerns with Coach Keim over comments and concerns the community has expressed to Mark, you folks and myself," Langdon wrote.

"And I am talking about a LOT of concerns from a LOT of people," the email said.

"Mark and I stated these concerns to Bill Wednesday -- it looked as though Bill was ready to deal (and did so to some extent) with the concerns and continue on with the season," the email said. "On Thursday, it appeared as though he may be having a change of heart. Today he met to discuss these new concerns with Mark and me in my office.

"In summation, he wanted assurance that he would be coaching next year. We told him that we could not assure him or any coach that they would be coaching beyond the current season. .... Bill took strong exception to this and expressed his desire to resign."

Keim's record

Keim has been a Sturgis Public Schools teacher for more than 30 years. For much of his career, he was a special education teacher but is currently teaching kindergarten.

He took over as varsity football coach in 2009, compiling a 15-18 record in 3 ½ seasons at Sturgis. The Trojans are 3-2 this season, after going 7-3 in 2011 and qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

In January, Adams gave a stellar evaluation on Keim's coaching performance. On a checklist of 45 items, Keim received an "exceeds expectations" on 44 items and "meets expectations" on the 45th: "Displays respect for athletes, coaches, parents and officials."

Keim's personnel file also contains a handwritten note dated Aug. 8 that appears to be from Adams, which reads: "Talked to Bill about the bad language I heard on the practice field from coaches. He said he addressed the players and coaches about it."

Events of Sept. 19-21

According to the emails, Keim, Adams and Langdon met Wednesday, Sept. 19, to talk about the language issue and other concerns. It appears that Keim was told that he needed to change his behavior or resign.

The emails suggest that Kein initially agreed to stay on and told his team in a meeting that night, only to waver the next day.

Kris Crabill, a Sturgis teacher who is president of the Sturgis Education Association, attended the team meeting.

"He told the team he would stay," Crabill wrote in an Sept. 20 email to Langdon. "However, when he called me this morning, he said he had been doing a lot of thinking and he had this one question."

The question was whether he would get his full salary of about $6,000 for coaching football if he resigned in the middle of the season.

That afternoon, Langdon wrote an email to Keim, saying, "I want to be really clear about how I see this situation.

".... This was and never will be personal Bill. I want your program to succeed. It wouldn't have been the way it was going -- please believe me when I say that. With effort from you and your staff it can succeed in the future."

Langdon acknowledged in that email that he had urged Keim to resign.

"You asked me if you should resign yesterday morning; my answer was yes," the email said. "One hundred out of one hundred times, it would still be yes."

But Langdon also wrote "if you feel that you can correct the issues that we presented to you, than that we (sic) be great. I think that you can."

A few hours later, Keim responded by email. "I will own the swearing/sarcasim (sic) but not the other issues," he wrote. "As Mark found out throughout the day, the other claims were false and/or incorrectly reported."

Keim said that if he stayed on, he had "two major concerns."

One, he wrote, was "I will not allow parents to control me and tell me how to talk, act, etc. I need to know Mark and you will stop it by saying we've talked and it's done. I promise irregardless of what I do, they'll continue to call. As a kindergarten teacher, I'm very aware of tattling and how it works."

Keim also suggested that he is being unfairly criticized for poor retention in the program. While nearly 40 boys in the Class of 2013 played football as freshmen, the number of seniors now on the team is fewer than 10.

In the email, Keim wrote that students were using him as an "excuse" not to come out for the team. "I would like you to be aware of all I've done to accommodate these kids," he wrote.

Decision to resign

The emails indicate that Keim, Adams and Langdon met again on the morning of Friday, Sept. 21, and it was at that meeting that Keim offered his resignation, effective after the Friday night game.

In his email to the board the next day, Langdon emphasized that Keim's resignation was voluntary.

"It must be reiterated that Bill had total control as to whether he wanted to continuing [sic] coaching this year, and if successful, into the future," the email to the board said. "This has been a tough week -- the result is not what most people wanted. We felt we had an understanding and it went away."

However, it appears Keim feels he was forced out.

According to the documents obtained by MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette, Keim refused to sign off on a press release from the district that said his resignation was "his own decision and that it was SPS administration's intention that he stay on as Varsity Football Coach."

Thursday, Keim's son, Bryan Keim, suggested on Twitter that his father did not want to step down.

"My father has one rule in life, and that is you always finish what you start. So him not finishing should speak volume," Bryan Keim tweeted on Thursday.

That was followed by a second tweet from Bryan Keim: "I hope people are able to piece together that he never would or wanted to step down. He is a great coach and better person."